Mourne Conduit

The Mourne Conduit was a water main which ran 42 kilometres (26 mi) from the Silent Valley Reservoir to Carryduff, near Belfast and was built between 1893 and 1901.[1] This was supplemented by additional pipelines twice in the 20th Century.[1] This system supplied water to Greater Belfast and North Down for more than 100 years. It is labelled as the Mourne Aqueduct in Ordnance Survey maps from the early 20th century.

This system was replaced by the Aquarius Line, a dual pipeline between the Mourne Mountains and the Purdysburn Service Reservoir in Belfast which was constructed along with associated infrastructure as part of the Aquarius Mourne Water Project. The system provides water to approximately 20% of Northern Ireland's population.[2]

Mourne Conduit

The Mourne Conduit compromised 7 miles of tunnel, 16 miles of concrete culvert and 12 miles of pressure pipeline and was constructed between 1893 and 1901.[1]

Due to increased demand the Mourne Conduit was supplemented by additional pipelines between 1949 and 1956 by Farrans.[3] That company would later work on the replacement Aquarius Line.

Aquarius Line
Marker post for the Aquarius line water main near Ballynahinch.

The requirement to replace the Mourne Conduit was identified in the early 1990s by the Water Executive.[4]

The Aquarius Mourne Water Project was a three phase £62 million project to replace the Mourne Conduit and pipelines.[5]

  • Aquarius 1 - The first phase involved the construction of a water pumping station at Drumaroad which pumps water up 60m to a break pressure tank on the nearby Dunmore Mountain, the latter was also constructed as part of the project. This phase also saw the replacement of 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the Mourne Conduit between the pumping station and Ballynahinch and it was completed between May 1999 and May 2000.[1][6][7][8]
  • Aquarius 2 - 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) of new pipeline from Ballynahinch to Belfast and from the Mourne Mountains to Drumaroad along with another pumping station.[1][7][9]
  • Aquarius 3 - Construction of a £20 million water treatment works at Drumaroad which was designed to treat up to 155 million litres of water a day.[9] This was officially opened by then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, in November 2005.[10]

The system provides water to approximately 20% of Northern Ireland's population.[2]

References
  1. Devlin, Janet (14 August 2000). "Aquarius brings new dawn for fresh water". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast.
  2. McGurk, Helen (17 December 2002). "Construction Firm Celebreates an Early Christmas Present". News Letter. Belfast.
  3. "Your Place & Mine: A Century of Water from the Mournes - Part 4". /www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  4. "Modernising Construction Procurement in Northern Ireland" (PDF). www.niauditoffice.gov.uk. Northern Ireland Audit Office. 3 March 2005. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  5. "Water Plan on Course". News Letter. 10 September 2004.
  6. "Mourne Pipeline Set for Facelift". News Letter. Belfast. 5 May 1999.
  7. "Water and Wastewater Portfolio" (PDF). www.farrans.com. Farrans. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  8. Hewitt, Kim (21 February 2001). "History On Tap in The Mournes". News Letter. Belfast.
  9. Johnson, Norman. "Aquarius 3 – Mourne Water Treatment Works" (PDF). w.waterprojectsonline.com. Wastewater Treatment & Supply. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  10. "New £20M Water plant". News Letter. 30 November 2005.
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